


Where Now the Roses Fall

by vartamin



Series: Zutara Month Celebrations [5]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Fire Lady Katara, Fire Lord Katara, Fire Nation Royal Family, Fire Nation politics, Gen, Political Drama, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, WIP (work in progress)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 12:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20228125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vartamin/pseuds/vartamin
Summary: An agni kai ends when an opponent is burned or subdued. Zuko comes out of his battle with Azula scarred. A waterbender enters the fray, challenges anew the manic Princess and the Princess ends in chains.This is the news that travels the kingdom, the gossip that permeates every hole in the wall tea shop and shady bar. 2 months afterwards and Zuko still does not have the crown. The Fire Sages are trusted witnesses and the council is adamant.Once banished and twice traitor, Zuko has no hold on the throne. According to traditional Fire Nation rule, Katara must be crowned.





	Where Now the Roses Fall

**Author's Note:**

> A hundred years from now  
dear heart  
we will not care at all  
it will not matter then a whit  
the honey or the gall  
the summer days that we have known  
will all forgotten be and flown  
the garden will be overgrown  
where now the roses fall
> 
> — John Bennett “In A Rose Garden”
> 
> I’ve always been interested in the rules and traditions of agni kai and I don’t rly understand why, if Katara was the one to defeat azula, Zuko still “won” the position of firelord
> 
> a bunch of ppl explain it away by “azula shot at a bystander, violating the rules and forfeiting the match” but I don’t think that was ever stated in canon so??? this is my take!!!

An agni kai ends when an opponent is burned or subdued. Zuko comes out of his battle with Azula scarred. A waterbender enters the fray, challenges anew the manic Princess and the Princess ends in chains.

This is the news that travels the kingdom, the gossip that permeates every hole in the wall tea shop and shady bar. 2 months afterwards and Zuko still does not have the crown. The Fire Sages are trusted witnesses and the council is adamant. Once banished and twice traitor, Zuko has no hold on the throne. According to traditional Fire Nation rule, Katara must be crowned.

Katara rubs at the wrinkle in her forehead she is sure is becoming permanent. “So, run me through this again. Why is this happening?” 

Iroh sighs, 3 years with Zuko at his worst had taught him boundless patience, but even he has limits. “When you chased after Zuko into the arena you bowed to Azula in traditional Fire Nation etiquette and challenged her to an agni kai, did you not?”

Katara slumps back into her seat and puts up the defense she’s desperately held onto for the past 2 months since this whole mess started. “Yeah, in a  _ mockery _ of your Fire Nation etiquette, to show how stupid it all was.” 

Iroh shook his head patronizingly and once again laid out his argument with the care of a wise man explaining simple concepts to a stubborn child. “The Fire Sages do not care for your sincerity. Whether or not you meant to, you followed all official rules for an agni kai and put yourself in contention for the throne.”

Katara’s face twisted and she ran a hand down it in exasperation. “This can’t be happening, it just can’t.” She said before taking a deep breath. She slid further down the plush Fire Nation chair in the sitting room of her chamber.  _ The prince’s royal chamber _ , she realized, and resumed glaring at the wall at the thought. 

“It is, Master Katara, whether you accept it or not, the Fire Council and Sages have both recognized you as the rightful heir. There is nothing I have said or  _ can _ say with any chance of changing their minds. They are proud folk, and obsessively set in traditional ways.” He paused then and leant forward to put a hand on her shoulder. His face had been serious the entire conversation but it seemed to now take on new gravity. “I, too, would much rather see my nephew on the throne. But, even if he was completely healed from Azula’s lightning, fate will not have it. You will make a great leader Katara.” Iroh knelt before her slowly, taking a lump wrapped in fine but heavy fabric and thread with gold from the folds of his drooping sleeves. 

_ Expensive, _ her mind supplied, as he placed it on her knee. She knew what it was, and she began to reach for it as her blue eyes brimmed with tears. With nervous, unsteady hands she unwrapped it, trying desperately to remember how to siphon the air back into her lungs. When she uncovered it the air she had just regained gasped out of her chest. The crown laid steady in her lap, flashing a bright gold and ringed in crimson. She turned away.

“How,” she began, and her voice broke, “after all these years, all this pain, can they just  _ decide _ to let a lowly peasant waterbender  _ rule _ ?” She bit out. “They  _ slaughtered _ my people! That very council made that decision. How can they do this now?”

“You are a daughter of the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. It might not work that way in the South, but to us, you are a Princess. And your battle? A royal one.”

**Author's Note:**

> *posting this first bit to force myself to actually develop a plot and timeline for this


End file.
